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Tag: Advertisements

Part of the series What is Being Communicated?
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2013-09-30.

At first brush, many slogans sound good but when one gives it a bit of thought, we discover them to be in error.

Opinions expressed in this blog are those of the blogger which, although based on personal experience and knowledge of the scriptures, can be in error. No one has a corner on the truth but we should all sincerely be in search of it.

Listening to, or reading commercials, slogans and advertisements is not what most of us do. More often than not, we simply ignore them or brush quickly over them as we press on to more important tasks. If most people pay so little attention to these things, why do so many organizations spend so much money and effort to endlessly assault us with so many of them? Could it be because they are more effective than we think? Without questioning the obvious motive of making you do something you may not want to do, commercials, slogans and advertisements are also very effective in making us think in ways not likely in keeping with what we know to be true. Take, for instance, how many commercials present men, dads in particular, as creatures who have not been well endowed with intelligence! What about those that tell us we “deserve” that furniture, vacation or car? There are even commercials that indicate that the sooner our children get out of our hair, the sooner we can reclaim our lives for ourselves! We should know that all the examples used here are not based on a biblical world view but on a secular one. Is it possible that well meaning organizations can unwittingly use secular thinking when trying to entice people to their organization’s services and resources? Take, for instance, the slogan of “helping parents to be the best teachers”. Initially, it sounds wonderful until one questions the basis for the statement and takes it to its logical conclusion. Is being a teacher more important than being a parent? Apparently so. And what does a good teacher do? Teach, obviously, but what? Academics of course. So when helping parents to be the best teachers, are we not emphasizing academics over discipleship; helping students to reach their “academic potential”; the world’s standards over God’s expectations; teaching over parenting? Does it then not become obvious that the thinking is secular thinking, where the state and its representatives are of greater authority than the parents? Did God not create the parents before government? Does He not use parents, rather than government, to create children, who are then to be trained by pointing them back to their creator? Did God create government to create teachers to deliver a program that directs children away from God or parents? Should we not expect Godly wisdom using a biblical perspective from those who would claim a Christian faith base, rather than a twisted “christianized” version of secular philosophy?